1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly to a paper discharge unit that ejects, out of a printer main body, sheets on which images are printed by an ink cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a view for showing a conventional inkjet printer, in view of which the conventional inkjet printer 100 has a printer main body 110, an ink cartridge 130, a sheet pickup unit 140, a sheet feeding unit 150, and a paper cassette 120.
As the inkjet printer 100 having the above structure is driven, a sheet 10 of paper in the paper cassette 120 is fed under the ink cartridge 130 by a pickup roller 145 and first and second feeding rollers 151 and 153. Under this state, if the sheet 10 continues being fed by the second feeding roller 151 so that the sheet 10 comes off through the second feeding roller 151, the sheet 10 is conveyed out of the printer main body 100 by the paper discharge roller 161. At this time, the front end of the sheet 10 moving out of the printer main body 110 by the paper discharge roller 161 descends by its own weight.
As aforementioned, in case that the front end of the sheet 10 coming out of the printer main body 110 moves down by its own weight, a shape of the sheet 10 is entirely deformed due to sheet stiffness. Accordingly, the end portion E of the sheet 10 facing a nozzle part 135 of the ink cartridge 130 comes in contact with the nozzle part 135, so even a minimum interval necessary for image printing is not maintained between the end portion of the sheet 10 and the nozzle part 135.
Therefore, it becomes impossible to form images on the end portion E of the sheet 10 through ink firing, causing a problem that a printing amount printable on the sheet 10 is limited by the end portion E of the sheet 10.